Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1887-03-02
CRUISE ON AN ICEBERG.

We were due south of Csps Horn, and
about 100 mites from land tsays Peter Mel
son. an old whaler), when the wind dice
awayson Us one morning and left rs heayine
On . heavy swell, with five or SIX big iceberg
In fuu, view. The calm came about II
O'Clock in the morning, and 1T that time ths
nearest berg, which I venture to say covered
as much spaceas q vflageo Of 600 inhabitants
was four miles off, Before noon. we had
dftfted toward each other until We were two
miles apart; but then thu same current
seemed t catch US, and we drifted away *
the west in company, neither increasing no,
1essening the two miles distance. The day
was raw and chilly, though the sun shone
brightly, and the air was 50 clear that the
men on our decks soon made out some ami.
mails moving on the berg. It had swung
around q bit, showing q new face, aiid when
the captain had taken a look with his glass be
informed Us that he could make out two
polar bears and several small animals, which
he believed to be Arctic foxes. We had been
without fresh meat for many months, and an
appeal was made for one of the boats to be
permitted togo of and kill the bears. The
weather had a steady look, and after some
S0 SoPV0AA AA1USA tA0 eAAAO
mate to take four men and pull of. The
name of the mate was Mr. Wharton, and the
men were George Smith, George Olsen. Bill
Green and myself. We took along muskets
and harpoons and pulled away, rejoicing that
we were to have an adventure.
There was but little field ice, and We had no
difficulty in avoiding the occasional great
cakes and pieces broken from the bergs. We
pulled with such a will that We were soon up
to the berg, and it did not take US long to
find out that the captain was right. On a
sort Of shelf thirty or forty fest above the
water we discovered the bears; but as soon as
they noted our presence they scampered along
the shelf until hidden behind a projection, II
you never saw an iceberg it will be hard to
make you understand just what they are.
This n stood up $50 feet out of the water at
its highest point. The surface was cut up
into ~ravines, hills, towers, and all sorts of
inequalities, and these inequalities extended
down and along every side. There were a
dozen places where the sun was melting the
ice so that streams Of water were trickling
down, and the waves were breaking along
n whole side and throwing spray fifteen
feet high. I presume some Of the lady pas
sengers on an ocean, steamer passing two or
three miles away might have called it. grand
sight, but as we reached the base of the berg
it seemed to us to be about as ugly an object
as the sea could bear up. We were on the
lee side, of course, and as the bears scampered
along we pursued until we found their
further progress stopped by q high cliff, up
which nothing could make its way. We
could come up within half pistol Shot, and the
mate and Smith were good shots with the
musket.s How far the bears had been carried
on the berg, or how long they had been
it was Of course impossible to tell; but
the mate figured from tho wear and tear of
the big lump Of ice that it had been weeks at
sea. At any rate, the bears seemed greatly
at the sight of us, shrinking. against
the wall and whining like dogs as soon as Ere
opened. They were both down after
seven or eight shots. .,4 ;-. ~~- ,
You will mind that the ship was to wind
ward Of the berg and two miles away. We
had pulled around to the lee side, and were
consequently out of sight of the vessel We
had downed the bears and were looking for a
place to make the boat fast in order to get a:
the carcasses, when, as suddenly as if you
bad .clapped a blanket over it, the sun was
Obscured, there was a sharp puff of wind,
and the next moment it was showing as it
only SHOWS off dreary Cape Horn at the right
of the year. The whole heavens were
overspread in no time, and we could not see
The water twenty feet away. The ship had
seen the squall gathering and fred guns for
rs before we had shot the bears, but. the
booming of the waves around US had shut
all other sounds. When l said the ship
to 'windward Of the berg, and that it
was also a dead calm, I meant that she was
IN the side from which the waves were. rum
ming. We had taken her bearings by COM
pass as we rounded the corner of the berg,
and now as the storm came on we settled
INTO our seats for a strong pull. The squall
1ad come up with the run of the waves, so
hat as soon as we had rounded the berg
found ourselves facing such a whirl of
now a you can scarcely imagine, while the
began to take on their white crests
md to run with greater strength. We knew
hat the ship could not remain stationary,
md that the chances of our running across
Ter in that storm was not ono in a thousand;
out every man had shut his teeth on the
worst when the mate brought out the bottle
II. whisky from the stern locker and said:
aNow, lads, a pull at the bottle all around
md yell feel better. We ire in an awkward
IL, to be sure, but I've been in far worse and
md am here to prove that I came out all
light. Give me a strong stroke and I'll put
aboard the Vestal in half an hour"
It was wonderful how much his words
us up, and we sent the boat ahead as
I we had sighted a whale. We had pulled a
,ood four miles from the berg when Mr..
Wharton ordered US to cease rowing, and,
a drift Of fifteen minutes he said:
LADS, we have somehow missed the ship,
md must make the best Of it. The storm
Won't break for hours yet. and our only hope
3 to find the big berg again and make fast
lnder its lee. Round with the boat and let
very man keep up a stout heart"
He wasn't sure that he had the bearings of
he berg, being as we had drifted away to
he southwest, but after a long and fatiguing
with the furry so dense that we could
lot see a boats length away, we finally heard
he breaking Of the serf on the berg. We
hen ran down its north face until we turned
he corner, and were soon at the very shelf
n which the bears lay dead. Having been
among the ice for weeks, our boat
1TOVlU6u Will ACS duCAO3S, ouO dltCI q
we made fast, veered the boat to a safe
and then rode as nicely as you
lease. The water under the lee Of that great
obstacle was as quiet as it would
ave been in the lee of a hundred acre
sland. It wasn't so very cold, but we had
ulled away from the ship without any prep
ration, and as the afternoon wore away we
ound that our cramped quarters were tell
ng against us. Feet, hands and limbs were
,enumbed, and it was plain that we must
ave exercise or we would o o be frostbit.
en-. By the mates orders the boat was drawn
nto the berg and we got out on secure foot
ne and hauled the craft after us. The mate
hen told us to scatter along the shelf on
9hich the bears were lying and stretch our
and swing our arms, and while we were
t this he overhauled b stores in the boat. |
When We finally gathered around him again
70 announced that he had found a lantern
nd a pint of oil, two hatchets, a harpeon,
hree muskets, with powder and ball for about
wenty rounds, a lot of matches, W tins
f ships biscuit, a key Of water, and there
vas the whale line on its reel, and the ice an
hor to complete the list. We moved along
n a body to where the carcasses were lying,
nd at the projection which had stopped their
urther Hight we began cutting a cave in the
20. The berg was ha>d as ice can freeze,